68 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



will be too heavy and unwieldy. For ladies a lin. 

 pole is strong enough. The ends should be shod 

 with steel, and one should have a V-shaped prong, 

 like a miniature punt-pole, which gets a better grip 

 of rocky, gravelly, and pebbly bottoms than the 

 single-pointed cylindrical spike. It may be useful 

 to know that poles of this type and of first-rate 

 finish are now obtainable from Messrs. Swaine 

 and Adeney, 185, Piccadilly. There is a good deal 

 of diversity in the Otter-poles commonly seen. 

 Some are shaped so as to be larger in the middle 

 than towards the ends, others have no steel cap at 

 one end, a few have a ring inserted where formerly 

 the spear was screwed in, and others again are 

 brass-mounted and bound with ornamental spirals of 

 brass wire. 



In the latter, as with those made of male 

 bamboo, brass tacks are driven in to record the 

 kills instead of notches being cut in the wood. 

 These poles are highly ornamental, especially if the 

 wood has been polished as well as the brass : but 

 they have a lady-like and drawing-room appearance 

 somewhat inappropriate to the waterside. The 

 plainer and more workmanlike the pole the more 

 sportsmanlike it will also be. The notches should 

 not be so large as to be gashes in the wood, nor 

 should they be mere lines possessing length without 

 breadth. Half an inch long by two-fifths of an inch 



